After Before and After

Epilogue (Part 1)

Seventeen-year-old Ralph Langley was hesitant about getting in the line at Georgia Regional Hospital's youth impatient ward. He nervously tapped his fingers against the side of his leg as he continued to let people take the spot in front of him in line.

When he finally got the nerve to make it to the front of the queue, the woman who was currently being served turned around to look at him.

"Do you happen to know today's date?" she asked him politely.

Of course he knew today's date. It was circled on his calendar in bright green marker. He had retired his red one, along with most of his red clothes. The color dropped far down his list of favorite colors, and the list of colors he could stand to look at in general.

"June 25th 1995" Ralph answered the woman with an obviously forced smile, one he hoped she'd accept without asking him if he was okay.

He was tired of answering that question with a lie.

"Thank you" she answered kindly before turning back around and filling it in on the form on the counter in front of her.

When it was his turn to sign the paperwork at the counter, Ralph's hand shook and his writing was sloppy at best. He'd learned better penmanship in private school, but it didn't show today.

"Room 323" the receptionist informed him before calling out "next!" to the person behind him.

Ralph carried his shaky legs down the hall in search of Room 323. When he finally found the little golden number hung above one of the doors, his legs stopped working. He was terrified that too much had changed. And somehow, he was equally as terrified that nothing had changed at all.

But he'd never know if he didn't knock.

"Come in" the familiar voice that made his heart light up like a shot of ecstaty called out.

Ralph stepped into the doorway and laid his eyes on Jack Merridew for the first time in three months.

"Hey" Jack said plainly like it had been three days instead of three months. He was wearing a black hard rock band t-shirt and grey sweatpants. His hair was blond and free of blood, unlike it was the last time they were in the same room together.

"Hi" Ralph responded shyly. In his head, he was ten years old and meeting Jack for the first time again. Simon was alive and on the other side of the room. Evan Merridew was alive and on the other side of the state. Life was simpler then.

"Are you coming in or are you just gonna stand there in the doorway?" Jack asked, eyebrows raised.

Ralph forced himself to walk the rest of the way in, until he was only a foot or two away from the bed Jack sat on. It looked like a normal double sized bed, unlike the hospital beds in most rooms.

But then again, this wasn't a normal hospital. Or at least, it wasn't a normal part of the hospital.

Jack was playing a video game on the little TV that sat on the counter across from the bed. He paused the game and shifted his body to face Ralph.

"How've you been?" Jack asked plainly.

"I don't know" Ralph admitted. "People keep asking me that and I never know what to say."

"Have you tried the truth?" Jack questioned.

"I don't think they really wanna hear it" Ralph considered, finally out loud. It had been a long time since he felt he could just be honest.

"I really wanna hear it" Jack insisted.

"I threw out all my red clothes" Ralph blurted what felt like a confession of guilt. "And I see him every time I close my eyes. That's how I'm doing."